Turkeys and Chipmunks and Snakes...oh my!!

After a week of hot, humid weather and frequent threat of storms we had a Saturday ripe for biking. No rain in the forecast. With Ingrid's graduation party that night we decided to stick closer to home and drove down to Welch - earlier than usual but after waffles. There were the rollerbladers who thought they were funny by telling me I only had to coast. It's the same as people who ask us if we wished our harpist daughter played the piccolo. Hey dude, I AM the stoker, the power pedaler, the water carrier. Dork.

Okay, got past that and road first to Red Wing making great time then back to Cannon Falls to Welch. We averaged 13 mph which is a good rate for us at this point in the season. It was hot so we drank plenty of water filling up our bottles at the NEW water fountain in Red Wing. Great improvement. We did see one other tandem coming out of Cannon Falls but they were moving and we were sitting on a bench. It was a regular road bike.

I almost forgot Molly, a young girl, riding with her family. As they approached us Molly decided to nonchalantly ride right in our direction. Her mother kept telling her to move over but it was her father's "Jesus, watch where you're going!" that saved the day.

It was a great day for almost hitting animals on the trail including two garter snakes slithering across (we happen to like snakes having raised a number of them including Baby, the yellow rat snake), scolding chipmunks and two good size wild turkeys who couldn't make a decision whether to climb the bank or go down to the river so instead stood on the trail until the last moment. We also got a good view of one of the parental eagles soaring over the trail. There was too much of a crowd at the eagle nest to stop and gawk at the young eagles.

The star of the wild flowers was the cow parsnip which stands in some places almost three feet tall. These have broad clusters of white flowers that seem to attract lots of bees. Beware of the wild parsnip which will do bad things to your skin (these are yellow). We also saw penny cress, red clover and birds-foot trefoil in addition to lots of flowers we didn't identify because of our great speed.

After the ride we changed shirts, me baring my midriff to the crowds and headed to Red Wing for lunch. We highly recommend Lily's where we had chicken curry and Thai chicken wraps, tall ice teas, and excellent service. You can also buy your greeting cards while you eat. They are a coffee shop too.

Met Uncle Jim at Ingie's graduation and we traded bike trail stories then went to my brother's to congratulate him on returning safe and sound from the Rocky Mountain bike tour. Just can't get enough of the bike.

Playing hooky

What is better than working a half day and then taking the sunny, warm Friday afternoon off for a bike ride? All seemed idyllic until Will picks me up at the U and says “do you hear a hissing sound?” Alas, our BMX front tire had sprung a leak! Fortunately we had a spare tube…for once our planning worked. We headed south to the Cannon Valley Trail AGAIN this time to do the complete trail in one ride. The parking lot at Welch was full of yellow school buses…our kid alarm went on. Fortunately they were loading up the Lakeville school to go back to school. Whew. Will did a quick tire change and merrily biked first to Red Wing, catching a glimpse of the adult parent at the eagles nest; the other was soaring above the nest. There was also the annoying woman who felt compelled to tell us every move of the eagles in the last several days including feeding on baby geese. I said the latter might help reduce the excess goose population. She didn’t appreciate that comment

It was another day full of wildflower sightings. We’re getting adept at identifying number of petals to the bloom, the shape of the leaves and the height of the plant. With those three pieces of information one can frequently identify the flower. Color helps of course. There is one yellow flower that covers the hillsides near Cannon Falls that we can’t find in our book. We did add Canada Anemones, Wood Anemones, and Yellow Sweet Clover.

One of the purposes of this blog is to document amenities of the trails. The Cannon Valley Trail goes from one town center to another with only the village of Welch in between. It’s never far to get to civilization. For bike riders it’s important to have bathroom facilities. There are plenty on this trail including both trailheads and Welch station. Biffys are also available at Spring Creek, near the trail to the Anderson Center (on the Red Wing end); at Trail Run Creek on the Cannon Falls end. Water is a problem though. Welch has a fountain. The fountain at the Cannon Falls depot has been broken for a while. We don’t ride to the Cannon Falls Trailhead but since it’s a city park I’m assuming there’s water available.

We did have some great wildlife sightings other than the eagle. Vultures were soaring low over the meadows near Cannon Falls. We sighted a hummingbird just outside of Welch – thought at first it was a butterfly. A three inch caterpillar fell on me from a tree (yuck) and a deer stood on the trail as we approached Welch on our last leg. It watched us for a long minute before running ahead of us down the trail and finally up the ridge.

It was dinner time by the time we finished the ride. We packed up and headed to Red Wing and the Staghead Restaurant. The service was vastly improved since the last time we ate there but the food was not. My salmon was supposed to come with red potatoes but instead they substituted plain white rice. The steamed vegetables were done nicely but some seasoning like herbs would have been a nice touch. Still the beer and cider were greatly appreciated and I tipped the guy playing kind of lounge organ.